I "plan" on breeding these two, but that's really up to Tussy. She's very bossy and independent, it's just as likely these two will never breed.

I've read that it's not good to pair ino to ino, but that doesn't make sense to be. Ino isn't a lethal white gene like in dogs, it's more like the red eyed white gene in rabbits. Tussy herself is from an albino/lutino pairing, if the genes were lethal there would have been at least one fatality or deformity in the three clutches that pair raised.

At any rate, if she allows a breeding it will be her last. I just don't see ino birds here very often, so I'd just like a couple more with these colors. She's going to be too old for it by next year, so if she doesn't breed she doesn't breed, and that'll be that

I "plan" on breeding these two, but that's really up to Tussy. She's very bossy and independent, it's just as likely these two will never breed.

I've read that it's not good to pair ino to ino, but that doesn't make sense to be. Ino isn't a lethal white gene like in dogs, it's more like the red eyed white gene in rabbits. Tussy herself is from an albino/lutino pairing, if the genes were lethal there would have been at least one fatality or deformity in the three clutches that pair raised.

At any rate, if she allows a breeding it will be her last. I just don't see ino birds here very often, so I'd just like a couple more with these colors. She's going to be too old for it by next year, so if she doesn't breed she doesn't breed, and that'll be that

I am not sure why they say not to breed ino to ino, however even if she will not breed with him you still may get ino babies by breeding him to a blue series hen... I had a grey (blue series male) who was apparently split ino, I bred him to a green Dom pied hen and got 3 lutino hens out of a 5 egg clutch.

Off topic... I just bred my tiels, a lutino male with a cinnamon Pearl pied hen and out of 5 babies, 1 was a lutino Pearl pied and another was a lutino Pearl. 5 chicks and 5 different mutations!

Although I'm not a breeder, I've also heard many times not to breed ino to ino, and I do believe there is a good reason, not just a minor reason. So, imho I'd do more research before even thinking about breeding these 2 beauties. I hope an experienced breeder sees this thread soon to say the exact reason(s).

I agree with you! Joe is a stunning bird. Also, ino to ino isn't reccomended because you increase the likelihood of ino-related problems, like poor eyesight. That's all I know since I actually don't breed, hopefully someone else will chime in and add to this.

One of the reasons it is not recommended that you breed ino to ino is because there is an increased risk of the chicks having sight problems, including blindness. In general, inos don't see as well as other mutations and when you pair two of them you are running risks of bad genes being passed from both which will affect the offspring.

I'll contact aluz and ask her to weigh in on your thread as she has experience with breeding (and with inos) and will be able to explain better than I.

One of the reasons it is not recommended that you breed ino to ino is because there is an increased risk of the chicks having sight problems, including blindness. In general, inos don't see as well as other mutations and when you pair two of them you are running risks of bad genes being passed from both which will affect the offspring.

I'll contact aluz and ask her to weigh in on your thread as she has experience with breeding (and with inos) and will be able to explain better than I.

Ahhh, that makes a lot of sense. I just realized that even in my example of the red eyed white rabbit some of those white rabbits have vision problems that cause them to "scan" the area around them. If it's a bad idea to keep breeding ino to ino I'm certainly not against changing plans, I'd much rather learn that it's a bad idea from reading here than from a bad experience

I have a yellowface hen as well, but my understanding is that an albino cock to a yf blue hen will only produce ino hens in the clutch. Is that right? If that's a safer course for the chicks I'd rather do that, the yf hen is much younger anyways.

Ahhh, that makes a lot of sense. I just realized that even in my example of the red eyed white rabbit some of those white rabbits have vision problems that cause them to "scan" the area around them. If it's a bad idea to keep breeding ino to ino I'm certainly not against changing plans, I'd much rather learn that it's a bad idea from reading here than from a bad experience

I have a yellowface hen as well, but my understanding is that an albino cock to a yf blue hen will only produce ino hens in the clutch. Is that right? If that's a safer course for the chicks I'd rather do that, the yf hen is much younger anyways.

An ino or split ino male bred to a non ino hen cannot produce a male ino, all inos in the clutch will be hens. Not sure if that is what you were asking or not...lol

An ino or split ino male bred to a non ino hen cannot produce a male ino, all inos in the clutch will be hens. Not sure if that is what you were asking or not...lol

Yep, that's what I mean. I want a male ino for silly reasons, they're just my my boyfriend's favorite colors, and he wants a bird as bonded to him as Tussy is to me. I don't breed for sale or anything, so I don't really know anything about it We just always bred our own parakeets in my family, this is the first time I've looked into the genetics behind their breeding.

Indeed the issues with poor eyesight I have encountered on some Ino budgies is one of the main reasons I made the conscientious decision of not ever breeding two visual Inos together.
But it's not only that, many years ago, when I came upon my first Ino chick through breeding, which came by surprise since both parents were "normals", I completely fell in love with the mutation and when my first ever Ino girl was of age I decided to breed from her.
By that time I came across some issues I had an albino who had a birth defect, didn't have the primary flight feathers. French moult was ruled out soon, since he had beautiful tail feathers and the test results were negative for French moult too.
I have also noticed within my first Ino chicks that they appeared more fragile and smaller in size when compared to my other chicks.
At the time I talked with other breeders and they said were experiencing similar issues with their inos and they also told me their longevity wasn't as good when compared to other budgies of different mutations.

I was lucky to have talked to a very good breeder at the time (I was pretty much a novice breeder back then) and he said to me that if I wanted healthier and better quality Ino babies then the best thing to do was to find split males to breed with visual females. And to try and find a good sized split to Ino male in preference the wild type green colour and that's what I did. It took me quite a while and many generations to have a good line of Inos and I never bred a full Ino to Ino. The male Inos I had I bred with good sized healthy normal females. The female Inos with split to Ino males.

This is what I did because I was looking more for quality and improve of overall physical health and possibly make them live at least as long as a "normal" coloured budgie. If I ever come across another Ino budgie and decide to breed from it, I will stick to the same plan as I did in the past.

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RIP sweet Tito (Summer 2008 - January 17th 2013).
You are missed and never will be forgotten.